I don't know about any of you but I stand to reload. The problem has always been the scale. I had to constantly bend and stoop over to see it and have it eye level. After about 10 rounds my back was hurting so bad I would have to stop. So I made this Tango's Scale perch. It looks a little rough because A. Tango ain't no dam wood worker like Norm Abram. B. I used what I had on hand.

I got tired of buying those expensive Dillon tool holder stands. So when I was putting together my new reloading bench, I decided to fix the problem of having to buy more Dillon Tool holder stands.

I had some Red Oak 1x3 laying around from another project, Made two tool holder bases. The holders are made from 1" cold roll steel. Just cleaned up the OD, turned the first step for 650 tool heads (.750" dia) and then turned the ends @ .550" for 550 tool heads. I drilled and taped the end of each holder 1/4x20 and then just bolted them to the red oak planks. I think Dillon charges $18 each, so I figure I saved at least $125.

PS I mounted the stands on standard drawer slides so that I can pull them out. They were the most expensive part of this project.

"The problem has always been the scale. I had to constantly bend and stoop over to see it and have it eye level."

Tango, you done good. And right.

I've long chuckled at those who say, "Git a digital, beams are too slow and too hard to read!" When they say that, I just KNOW they have placed their beam scale on the bench top and probably have their measure sitting on a press. That's not quite as bad as placing them under the bench top but it's close! Of coarse, most magazine photos do show scales sitting on the bench top but that's for ease of taking photos, not for ease of use.

I've had my scale at nose level, well above the top since my 2nd bench... love it! (I'm using a third generation bench now, have since '72.)

"The problem has always been the scale. I had to constantly bend and stoop over to see it and have it eye level."

Tango, you done good. And right.

I've long chuckled at those who say, "Git a digital, beams are too slow and too hard to read!" When they say that, I just KNOW they have placed their beam scale on the bench top and probably have their measure sitting on a press. That's not quite as bad as placing them under the bench top but it's close! Of coarse, most magazine photos do show scales sitting on the bench top but that's for ease of taking photos, not for ease of use.

I've had my scale at nose level, well above the top since my 2nd bench... love it! (I'm using a third generation bench now, have since '72.)

I am on Gen 3 now myself. First was an old military office desk. It was ok but I always lost the use of a drawer when mounting my press.

I've made a lot of small reloading tools but the one that is my "prize" project was a press modification. My first press was a Lyman turret, the Spar-T model. It had a simple toggle lever. It was more difficult to work the lever than I liked so I converted it to a compound toggle type! MUCH improved operation now.

The nicest tool I made is a really stable powder trickler, about 2 1/2#. The base is a lathe turned 2" cast iron pipe cap and a section of 1" brass drain pipe for the powder silo, the parts below the feed tube are filled with lead. The feed tube is a 1/4" diameter section of auto radio antenna with an electronic knob on one end. The whole thing is really stable, really smooth spinning too.

And then there are the two RCBS type stuck case removers.

And the two Stoney Point type OAL tools and modified cases. I made the case holders from 1/4" stainless steel tubing threaded 1/4x28 so I don't need any hard to find tap for my "modified" cases.

And the Sinclair type "max chamber length" gauging plugs.

The brass headed, fiberglass handled bullet mold sprue plate hammer.

Three sets of case forming dies to make .243, .22-250 and 6 mm International from .30-06 cases.

Gettiing an old South Bend 9" metal lathe (finally!) and a small MIG welder (finally!) has really expanded my basic home shop flexibility for making uncommon custom tools for reloading and a lot of other things too!